Marked for Isaiah Ngbede
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Vilim Krušlin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vilim Krušlin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sesvete the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
Ilan Pejić was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Sesvete
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Radošević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
When it matters, Karlo Žiger plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Antonio Kuš asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout10 May 2027
Ivan Radošević is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Petar Antolković’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad10 May 2027
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Luka Gale keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Urban Trobec was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Hrvatski Dragovoljac training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeremiah Olaleke is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hrvatski Dragovoljac are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Mihael Stipić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Niklas Kirkemo arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Niklas Kirkemo has, at Hrvatski Dragovoljac, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lovro Krišto has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Hrvatski Dragovoljac have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match6 Feb 2027
A goal on 86 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Marko Batur
7.67, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Hrvatski Dragovoljac had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Luis Ibáñez named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Luis Ibáñez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jeremiah Olaleke will call it something else in private.
Match6 Feb 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Isaiah Ngbede: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hrvatski Dragovoljac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Urban Trobec was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bošnjak was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Lovro Kramarić's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Benjamin Dulčić asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.80 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Urban Trobec and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Batur has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Varteks, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ivan Bošnjak falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Isaiah Ngbede slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Isaiah Ngbede is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Boris Budimir on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.